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Chapter 9CanticoEsp.1.9

Canción VI

The Wound of Love Through Creatures

The soul, wounded by love through the trace of the Beloved’s beauty in creatures, cries out in longing for his presence.

Notes on the following song But beyond all this, speaking now according to the sense and affection of contemplation, it should be known that in the living contemplation and knowledge of creatures, the soul sees that there is in them such an abundance of graces and virtues and beauty, with which God endowed them, that they all seem to her clothed in wonderful beauty and supernatural virtue, derived and communicated from that infinite supernatural beauty of the form of God, whose gaze clothes the world and all the heavens with joy and beauty; just as also, by opening his hand, as David says, he fills every living creature with blessing: Aperis tu manum tuam: et imples omne animal benedictione.1 And therefore, the soul, wounded by love through this trace of her Beloved's beauty that she has come to know in creatures, longing to see that beauty which is the cause of this other visible beauty, says the following song: Ah, who can heal me! Finish giving yourself now, truly. Don't send me any more messengers from this day on, for they don't know how to tell me what I want.2

The Soul's Longing for the True Presence

The soul explains that no creature or spiritual communication can satisfy her love; she desires only the true possession of God himself.

Explanation Since the creatures gave the soul signs of her Beloved, showing her in themselves a trace of his beauty and excellence, her love increased, and consequently the pain of his absence grew in her; for the more the soul knows God, the more her hunger and anguish to see him grow; and since she sees that nothing can cure her sickness except the presence and sight of her Beloved, distrusting any other remedy, she asks him in this song to grant her possession of his presence, saying that from this day on he should no longer put her off with any other news and communications of his, or traces of his excellence, because these only heighten her longing and the pain of going without the presence that satisfies her will and desire. That will is neither content nor satisfied with anything less than seeing him; and therefore may he be pleased to give himself to her now in earnest, in complete and perfect love; and so she says:3 Oh, who can heal me! As if she were saying: In all the world's delights and every contentment of the senses and pleasures, and the sweetness of the spirit, nothing at all can heal me, nothing can satisfy me; and since that is so, Finish giving yourself to me at last, truly. It's worth noting here that any soul that truly loves cannot be satisfied or content until it truly possesses God. For all other things don't just fail to satisfy it; rather, as we've said, they make its hunger and appetite grow to see him as he is. So, every glimpse it receives of the Beloved—along with the knowledge, feeling, or any other communication (which are like messengers bringing the soul word of who he is)—only increases and awakens its appetite even more, just as crumbs do in great hunger. Finding it hard to linger with so little, it says:45 Finish giving yourself now in truth. Because everything that can be known of God in this life, no matter how great, isn't true knowledge, since it's only partial and very remote. To know Him in His essence is genuine knowledge, which is what the soul asks for here, not content with those other communications; and so she goes on to say:6 From now on, don't send me any more messengers. As if to say: From now on, don't let me know you so sparingly through these messengers of news and feelings that come to me about you—so remote and alien from what my soul desires of you—because, as you well know, my Bridegroom, messengers only increase the pain for someone who longs for your presence: first, because they reopen the wound with the news they bring; second, because they seem like delays of your coming.7 So from now on, don't send me these remote messages; for if until now I could make do with them because I didn't know you or love you much, the depth of my love for you now can no longer be content with these messages; therefore, finish giving yourself.8 In other words: My Lord and Bridegroom, you who give yourself to my soul in parts—finish giving it entirely; and what you show as through cracks, show clearly; and what you communicate through intermediaries—which is communicating yourself as if in jest—do it in earnest, communicating yourself in person. Because in your visits it sometimes seems you are about to give the jewel of your possession, and when my soul comes to itself, it finds itself without it, because you hide it away—which is like giving in jest.910 So give yourself at last in earnest, giving your whole self to the whole of my soul, so that all of it may have all of you; and from now on, don't send me any more messengers.11 For they don't know how to tell me what I want. As if she were saying: I want all of you, and they neither know how nor can tell me everything about you, because nothing on earth or in heaven can give the soul the knowledge of you that she longs to have; and so they don't know how to tell me what I want.12 So then, instead of these messengers, you yourself be the messenger and the messages.

Read the original Spanish

Anotación de la canción siguiente

Pero, demás de esto todo, hablando ahora según el sentido y afecto de contemplación, es de saber que en la viva contemplación y conocimiento de las criaturas echa de ver el alma haber en ellas tanta abundancia de gracias y virtudes y hermosura, de que Dios las dotó, que le parece estar todas vestidas de admirable hermosura y virtud sobrenatural, derivada y comunicada de aquella infinita hermosura sobrenatural de la figura de Dios, cuyo mirar viste de alegría y hermosura el mundo y a todos los cielos; así como también con abrir su mano, como dice David, llena todo animal de bendición: Aperis tu manum tuam: et imples omne animal benedictione. Y por tanto, llagada el alma de amor por este rastro que ha conocido en las criaturas de la hermosura de su Amado, con ansias de ver aquella hermosura, que es causa de estotra hermosura visible, dice la siguiente canción:

¡Ay, quién podrá sanarme! Acaba de entregarte ya de vero, No quieras enviarme De hoy más ya mensajero, Que no saben decirme lo que quiero.

DECLARACIÓN

Como las criaturas dieron al alma señas de su Amado, mostrándole en sí rastro de su hermosura y excelencia, aumentósele el amor, y por el consiguiente le creció el dolor de la ausencia; porque, cuanto más el alma conoce a Dios, tanto más le crece el apetito y pena por verle; y como ve que no hay cosa que pueda curar su dolencia sino la presencia y vista de su Amado, desconfiada de cualquiera otro remedio, pídele en esta canción le entregue la posesión de su presencia, diciendo que no quiera de hoy más entretenerla con otras cualesquier noticias y comunicaciones suyas y rastros de su excelencia, porque éstas le aumentan las ansias y el dolor de carecer de la presencia, que satisface su voluntad y deseo. La cual voluntad no se contenta ni satisface con menos que con su vista; y por tanto, u a él servido de entregarse a ella ya de veras en acabado y perfecto amor; y así, dice:

¡Ay, quién podrá sanarme!

Como si dijera: En todos los deleites del mundo y contentamiento de los sentidos y gustos, y suavidad del espíritu, cierto nada podrá sanarme, nada podrá satisfacerme; y pues así es,

Acaba de entregarte ya de vero.

Donde es de notar que cualquier alma que ama de veras no puede querer satisfacerse ni contentarse hasta poseer de veras a Dios. Porque todas las demás cosas, no solamente no la satisfacen, mas antes, como habemos dicho, la hacen crecer la hambre y apetito de verlo a él como es; y así, cada vista que el Amado recibe y el conocimiento y sentimiento o otra cualquier comunicación (los cuales son como mensajeros que dan al alma recaudos de noticia de quien él es), le aumentan y despiertan más el apetito, así como hacen las migajas en grande hambre; y haciendósele pesado entretenerse con tan poco, dice:

Acaba de entregarte ya de vero.

Porque todo lo que en esta vida de Dios se puede conocer, por mucho que sea, no es conocimiento de vero, porque es conocimiento en parte y muy remoto; mas conocerle esencialmente es conocimiento de veras, el cual aquí pide el alma, no se contentando con esotras comunicaciones; y por tanto, dice luego:

No quieras enviarme De hoy más ya mensajero.

Como si dijera: No quieras que de aquí adelante conozca tan a la tasa por estos mensajeros de las noticias y sentimientos que se me dan de ti, tan remotos y ajenos de lo que de ti desea mi alma, porque los mensajeros a quien pena por la presencia bien sabes tú, Esposo mío, que aumentan el dolor: lo uno, por lo que renuevan la llaga con la noticia que dan; lo otro, porque parecen dilaciones de la venida. Pues luego de hoy más no quieras enviarme estas noticias remotas; porque, si hasta aquí podía pasar con ellas porque no te conocía ni amaba mucho, ya la grandeza del amor que le tengo no puede contentarse con estos recaudos; por tanto, acaba de entregarte. Como si más claro dijera: Señor mío esposo, que andas; dando de ti a mi alma por partes, acaba de darlo del todo; y esto, que andas mostrando como por resquicios acaba de mostrarlo a la clara; y esto, que andas comunicando por medios, que es comunicarte como de burlas, acaba de hacerlo de veras, comunicándote por ti mismo, que parece a veces en tus visitas que vas a dar la joya de tu posesión, y cuando mi alma bien se cata, se halla sin ella, porque se la escondes, lo cual es como dar de burla. Entrégate, pues, ya de vero, dándote todo al todo de mi alma, porque toda ella te tenga a ti todo; y no quieras enviarme de hoy más ya mensajero.

Que no saben decirme lo que quiero.

Como si dijera: Yo a ti todo quiero, y ellos no me saben ni pueden decir a ti todo, porque ninguna cosa de la tierra ni del cielo pueden darle al alma la noticia que ella desea tener de ti; y así, no saben decirme lo que quiero. En lugar, pues, de estos mensajeros, tú seas el mensajero y los mensajes.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Spanish figura de Dios rendered as "form of God" (the divine form/figure whose gaze beautifies creation); not limited to the imago Dei of the human soul.
  2. 2 ↩Archaic Spanish de vero = truly / in earnest (modern de veras); rendered as 'truly'.
  3. 3 ↩Source reads 'u a él servido'; most plausible intended reading is 'va a él servido de' (may he be pleased to / let him deign to), a Golden Age construction with ser servido de + infinitive.
  4. 4 ↩Source syntax is ambiguous (literally 'each glimpse that the Beloved receives'); rendered as the soul's glimpse of the Beloved, the sense required by the surrounding argument.
  5. 5 ↩Golden-Age 'recaudos' = messages/reports; rendered as 'word' in 'bring the soul word of who he is'.
  6. 6 ↩Spanish 'de vero' / 'de veras' means truly/genuinely; rendered as 'true' / 'genuine' to keep the contrast with partial knowledge. 'Conocerle esencialmente' rendered as 'to know him in his essence' (essential knowledge of God), not merely adverbially 'essentially'.
  7. 7 ↩Spanish 'a la tasa' means by measure or ration—i.e., scantily, in limited portions—not 'at the rate of' in the modern English sense.
  8. 8 ↩Here 'recaudos' means missives or messages sent by messenger, not 'collections' or fiscal receipts.
  9. 9 ↩Normalized text has a semicolon after 'andas'; sense read as continuous 'que andas dando' (you who go about giving).
  10. 10 ↩Archaic 'cata' = takes notice / comes to itself; rendered as 'comes to itself'.
  11. 11 ↩Archaic 'de vero' = truly / in earnest; rendered 'in earnest'.
  12. 12 ↩Spanish noticia here is San Juan's mystical term for knowledge or awareness of God, not mere news or information.

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